Disability advocates sue Mississippi over prison conditions sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Jade Bulecza
Jul 22, 2021 | 6:16 PM
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – In February, Disability Rights in Mississippi released a report after visiting and investigating the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) for two years. Their conclusion: the human rights of those with disabilities are being violated through the lack of mental care and health care.
“We notified our state legislature, our governor. We notified our facilities again, and at every turn, we’ve been met with silence or indifference or failure to address the issues going on in these facilities,” said Jane Walton, Communications Director of Disability Rights Mississippi.
The agency has monitored several MDOC facilities with a focus on the most populated ones: The Mississippi State Penetiary, South Mississippi Correctional Institution and Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
Bloody clashes that brought Mississippi’s prison system under federal scrutiny last year were part of a dramatic increase in reported cases of violence behind bars.The Mississippi Department of Corrections logged
JACKSON, Miss. – Bloody clashes that brought Mississippi’s prison system under federal scrutiny last year were part of a dramatic increase in reported cases of violence behind bars.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections logged 853 incidents of inmate-on-inmate assaults during the 2020 state budget year, which ended June 30. That was a 29% increase from the previous year.
The statistics are in a new report published Friday by PEER, the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review.
The report was released the day after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill that will become law July 1 and make more inmates eligible for parole in a state with one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation.
Watchdog gives bleak report on Mississippi prisons FILE - In this March 11, 2021, file photo, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves speaks with reporters after signing a bill at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. A new Mississippi law will make more inmates eligible for the possibility of parole. Gov. Reeves signed Senate Bill 2795 on Thursday, April 22, 2021, and it becomes law on July 1. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) (Source: Rogelio V. Solis) By Associated Press | April 26, 2021 at 10:15 AM CDT - Updated April 26 at 1:37 PM
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Bloody clashes that brought Mississippi’s prison system under federal scrutiny last year were part of a dramatic increase in reported cases of violence behind bars.